A Gently Used Stroller
by loboselina
Summary: When Emma finds out why David was hesitant to buy Neal a brand new stroller the pair's relationship falls to ruins. Set post frozen arc


**Justanoutlaw and I were coming up with headcanons and we talked about Neal's second hand pram, which kind of inspired me to write this oneshot, I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

Emma sighed as she changed into some more comfortable clothes. It hurt, the Snow Queen – _Ingrid_ , being gone. She knew that she had wanted Emma to be part of her family, just a replacement for her sister, but she had been happy, or at least happier than any other foster home. Not only that, but now Elsa and Anna had gone, she missed that too – Elsa was her friend and she hadn't really had someone who was just her friend in a while. Regina kind of was, she supposed, in a weird co-parent-but-also-kind-of-step-grandmother kind of way. Before the curse she had had Mary Margaret, but she had turned out to be her mother, she much preferred her as her mother and would never even wish to change that, but she had missed having a _friend_ too.

She had to admit, she really hadn't been a fan of that curse, the curses they had gone through before had been heart breaking, but this one had hurt. She knew that the things that had been said, the things she had overheard, weren't really her parents. It wasn't even really the things said, but the way they had been said.  
 _  
'"I can't believe I had a child with you"'_

' _a'_ … It was a distinctly singular form. She knew her mom didn't mean it, that she was just thinking about the new born at that moment in time, but she had felt a stab in her heart when she had heard that and her dad not disagreeing and reminding her that they have _two_ children.

She shook her head. No, they were cursed, they love her and care about her without the delusions Ingrid had about her being a replacement. She threw on a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt, stuff she could sleep in so she wouldn't have to bother with getting changed again in an hour or so. There had been talk of watching a movie with her parents, and that was just what she needed after the past few weeks, she would never admit it but she really did feel better in herself when she spent time with them, that was one of the hardest things when her magic went haywire and she hurt her dad- not being able to run to them.

She started down the stairs and heard her parents talking. She paused at the top of the stairs and sat down, she could hear her parents talking as they moved around the loft, their movements reminded Emma of a dance as did their words. They were perfect together. She did that sometimes. Just sat to listen to her parents, she was completely in awe of them, and was amazed by them. They were completely in love and their banter with each other always brought a smile to her face.

Mary Margaret stoked Neal's cheek then moved over to the kitchen. She felt her husband's arms snake around her waist and she turned around so that they were pressed chest to chest. She pulled him down to her level, tipped her head up, and dragged him into a kiss. She pulled away and smirked as she saw a pout appear on his lips.

"You know," David made sure to keep his voice low as he was sure Emma would be coming back downstairs soon, "we have a tradition whenever we break a curse…" He dipped his head to kiss her again but she slipped out from his arms and he playfully glared at her.

"So," she continued to smirk as she moved around the kitchen, "the stroller's 'used', is it?" She bit her lip as she tried not to laugh at his reaction.

David groaned and threw his head back dramatically, they may have forgiven each other for anything else which had been said during the curse of shattered sight, but he shouldn't have been surprised that that was being brought up. " _Gently_ used." He pointed out.

"Uh huh." She said though she was still smiling. "So, what else is actually second hand?"

David rubbed the back of his head. "I, uh, there's…. it's all good quality." He pointed out. "And the crib was bought new!"

Mary Margaret tilted her head to the side in thought. "I know." She said gently. She could see there was something more to what was going on. "David, I know you got him all good stuff, you adore him and he adores you back. So, what's going on?"

David turned back around to face his wife. "When you were pregnant with Emma we had brand new things specially made for her, the best in all of the land, I-" He spluttered to a stop.

"Well, we can't really do that here, _David_ , please- just" she frowned in confusion. "Why are you so afraid of getting brand new things, it's not like we're just going to up and abandon the-"

"-What if we do?" He asked suddenly and insistently. "What if we get sucked back through another portal or, or yet another curse? What if we all end up back in the Enchanted Forest?"

"David." She sighed sympathetically.

"I know, I know I'm being stupid, but… I can't stop thinking of all the things we had ready for Emma, she didn't get to use them but they were better than most of the best things you can possibly get here."

"You want to go back?"

"No, I .. I love it here too, but I… I want to be with my family, no matter where that is, and if it came down to us choosing if Emma were to choose here I would insist on us staying, we're not being split up again. It's just with suddenly finding ourselves back in this town after being in the Enchanted Forest again, then seeing Kristoff, I can't help but get caught with the what-ifs."

Mary Margaret nodded her understanding. "So, go through them."

"What?"

"You're scared, and I get that I really do, so go through the fantasy of what it would be like raising Neal there, tell me what you would want if we were still there, then after tell me about what you want here." She suggested, she had felt the same way and had found that technique had worked.

Emma hadn't heard anything past David pointing out that the crib was bought new, she figured that she was missing out on more of banter (and she was fairly certain that she wouldn't be completely traumatised by whatever she was missing), so she started quietly down the stairs and stood a little away from the bottom of the metal case. She held in a laugh when she realised that neither had noticed her as they had their backs to her.

"I want him to be happy. We were already trying to prepare Emma's old nursery into one for him, though I doubt we'll let him leave our sides until he's about five." He chuckled. "We can teach him to walk there, to talk, to count, to read. He'll go out on the horses with us as soon as he's able, then when he's older we can teach him to ride his very own horse, he'll probably be a natural like you, Henry, and I are. He'll be the prince of an entire kingdom, with feasts every night, he won't see anything scary in the world, he'll live in a castle where he knows the nooks and crannies even better than we do. He'll have the best tutors though he'll like his mom teaching him things best, his nursery would be made up of only the best things, he'll get the best presents at Christmas and on his birthdays. He'll want for nothing… We could have the life we always dreamed of, always envisioned…We could be a really happy family if we moved back there."

The floor creaked as Emma shifted her weight to prepare to flee back to her room. Her parents turned to face her but by the time they did she already had a smile plastered onto her face, it didn't quite reach her eyes, but they didn't notice or suspect.

David's face lit up as it always did when he saw his daughter, he was totally irrevocably in love with her, with both of his children in a way which he didn't realise was possible until Mary Margaret was pregnant with Emma. "Hey, kid, I can get some popcorn ready for the movie, you can go pick it out, I would let you help but I don't want it to be set on fire again-"

"- Actually, I'm pretty tired." She told them though she mainly looked at her mother she couldn't bring herself to look at David after what she had just heard him say. "I'm just gonna get some sleep I think."

"Oh, okay." Mary Margaret smiled at her and walked closer to her, hugged her and pecked her on the cheek. "Goodnight sweetie, get some sleep."

"Goodnight mom." Emma smiled. "Night." She called in David's general direction then raced up the stairs, into the sanctuary of her bed.

*OUAT*

Since that night Emma had seemed more and more distant at first he thought that she was just grieving Ingrid's death and Elsa leaving, so he gave her as much space as she wanted. But as the time went on he realised that she only seemed distant with him, she was the same as ever with Mary Margaret, closer even. He had tried to convince his wife that something was going on, but it was only when Emma started to walk out of the room when he was there that she believed him, but she also knew it was between the two of them to sort out. So she arranged to take Neal out for the day, on a day she knew that neither David or Emma would be at the station or had any plans.

On the day in question Emma had walked down the stairs from her room, saw him there alone, then walked back up them. When she came back down she was dressed as though she were going out.

"Hey, Emma," David called over forcing himself to be cheerful but his voice was mainly filled with hope and tinged with a mixture of fear and worry, "your mom took Neal to go see Ashley and Alexandra and I know you're not working so I figured we could spend some time with each other, we could watch a movie or we could- we could play on Henry's game system, I've been practicing so I'll be able to be-"

"I'm going out with Hook." She said shortly and just continued to get ready to leave. She wasn't actually, after overhearing everything her father had said about him wanting his perfect fairy tale ending in the Enchanted Forest with her mom and brother… well needless to say she hadn't really wanted anyone's company.

"Oh." David's excited face fell, such an extreme fall that he couldn't hide it, but he still tried. "Right. Of course. Have-"

Emma walked out of the door and closed it hard behind her.

"-fun." David finished in a sigh to the empty loft.

*OUAT*

Since then Emma had only grown more aloof, she barely spoke two word sentences to him, she was even avoiding being at the loft on the off chance that he was there. And he knew that it was definitely him who she had a problem with as she was fine with Mary Margaret, though naturally she refused to talk about it or even admit that anything was going on. David had found himself needing to hold onto Neal even more than Mary Margaret had when he had first been born. At least he couldn't do something to Neal yet to make him completely hate him. He missed Emma.

Working at the station was hellish, on both of them.

David wasn't giving up on Emma, he never would, he loved her; she was his first born, his only daughter, his baby. He didn't need a curse to know that they shared true love… But he was becoming exhausted trying to constantly get her to talk to him about what was up, or to just talk, hell her reacting to his general existence seemed like it would be a miracle right about then. So he decided to give it one last chance. After that it was up to her.  
"I'm going to go on patrol now, if you want to join." She didn't even blink. "Em. Emma. Emma!" He felt his temper grow. "Emma what the hell is wrong with you-?"

"I'm filling out my _fucking_ paperwork like you're _always_ nagging me to do, David! What the hell else do you want from me!?" She shouted back, interrupting his sentence as she did so. She didn't even notice the slip in using his name not calling him dad.

David's mouth had fallen open when Emma had started to shout at him, after a beat of silence hung in the air, he closed his mouth and set it into a firm line. "Nothing, Sheriff Swan, absolutely nothing." His voice was hard as though he were talking to a disgruntled co-worker.  
Emma may have been a master at putting up walls, but she wasn't the only one, David had been pretty good at putting up certain walls himself during his younger years.  
" _I'm_ going to go on patrol, then if it's all clear _I'm_ going to go home and spend time _with my wife and son_ , if that's good with you?"

He didn't use the word child, after all he had two children even if one of them seemed to have no intention of being in the same room as him anymore, so he used the word son. He didn't use the word child, but it was the one that Emma heard.

Emma scoffed, she looked back down at the file, and shook her head. "Whatever." She muttered.  
She was exhausted. She hadn't been sleeping well, or at all, she kept waiting for the other foot to drop – to suddenly be kicked out or wake up and find that everyone was gone. So she spent most of her time at the station, or the woods, or just driving. She barely even stopped to eat.

She jumped as she heard the station door slam shut after David, so she added her nerves being shot to her various list of ailments.

*OUAT*

Mary Margaret wanted to bang David and Emma's heads together, to knock some sense back into them and get them back to normal, but that would require them to be within the same room for more than ten seconds. It was killing her, she hated to see them like this, after all, Emma had always been so close to her dad. As soon as the first cure had broken Emma had become so close so quickly it was just like Mary Margaret had always envisioned her daughter being a daddy's girl, and David was wrapped around Emma's finger. But now everything was wrong, they were completely out of sync, it broke her heart to see it.

She had to come up with a plan. Emma was avoiding even being home, and she could see how grumpy David was, especially after work where he told her that Emma had changed her shifts. After a couple more days she found out from Henry that Emma was avoiding everyone, including him, she needed to get her loved ones' relationship repaired before it was unable to be fixed, or before Emma ran.

She called in Henry's help, Emma may be avoiding spending her leisure time with anyone, but they all knew she would come in an emergency, and although David was acting differently too Mary Margaret knew that the same approach would work wonders with him - the two were much more alike than they'd ever admit.

*OUAT*

Mary Margaret was already at the station when she rang David's cell, she put on her best 'terrified mother' voice, which she had had a lot of practice doing, as soon as she heard him answer she began. "David! Quick I need you. Neal's ... something's wrong, I think he's ill or something, I came to the station to see you- no I already called for help but I need you here plea-" She didn't have to even finish the sentence to hear that David was on his way, she felt a little mean as she looked at her son smiling in front of her, but needs must.

*OUAT*

On his bed in Mifflin Street Henry dialled his mom's number, his other mom was there too, and she had agreed to help him by casting a voice changing spell on the device. As soon as Emma picked up Henry began, though the voice changer made him sound weaker and sick, he knew hit was pretty harsh to scare her, but how she was acting was scaring him too.

"Mom, help, I need you, I need your help, I'm at the station, I-" He hung up before she could get a word in but he knew that she had heard it.

Regina smiled at him and stood up from the bed. "I'll be back in a minute, I just need to lock those two idiots into the station."

*OUAT*

David and Emma got there at the same time but Regina and Mary Margaret were both waiting.  
Emma had started to drive over but she had realised halfway through speeding there that there was a quicker way, she pulled over and transported herself there using her magic, ending up in the jail cell as it was the easiest place for her to visualise.

David had been closer to the station when Mary Margaret had called so he had managed to race through the doors and into the bullpen as the slight crackle of Emma's appearance rang.

They both looked at each other with a frown, both assuming that the other was there for who they were, but they didn't speak to one another even then and instead looked around. They didn't see Neal or Henry. Instead they saw Regina raise her hands, a shimmer appeared creating a barrier stopping them from going five foot beyond the desks only able to stay in the bullpen or the cells not able to get to the interview room or the sheriff station, sealing David and Emma in.

"Regina, what the fuck?" Emma shouted. "Where's Henry? Why the hell are you putting a barrier up?"

Regina just raised an eyebrow. Mary Margaret appeared at her side, her eyebrow was also raised but it wasn't just at Emma's language but how exhausted she looked.

"Mary Margaret, what's going on, you said that Neal-" His brow was furrowed in confusion and worry.

"Neal's fine." She assured him somewhat icily when she realised that he wasn't even looking at Emma. "You two are going to stay in here until you've made up."

"Mary Mar-"

"Mom!"

"No." She said firmly. "We'll know when you've made up. I don't know what's going on with you two, but it is making you two miserable and I can't bear to watch you two like this, so you're both in here until you act like the mature adults you claim to be."

With that Regina and Mary Margaret walked out the room. David kicked a spinning chair in frustration, he had been so worried something had happened to Neal, and instead he was just trapped.

Emma had a similar, if slightly more magical, reaction to the situation. She started to throw the fireballs at the barrier in the hopes that it would break but they didn't even make a dent in Regina's magic.

David sighed as he turned to see his daughter throwing fireballs at the barrier. "Emma, you can't just try to blast your way out of these situations."

"I can try." She muttered through her teeth. She started to fire them with more vigour, her anger fuelling her magic, but her exhaust from not sleeping barely even let her magic come out as wisps.

"Emma." David sighed again in frustration. But then her hands dropped and she fell to the ground. "Emma!" His voice was filled with alarm as he ran over to her.

"I'm fine. Leave me alone." She sat herself up and scooted back up to lean against the base of one of the desks. She knew she hadn't been speaking to him, but he had basically told her he was spending time with his family and deliberately left her off the list.

David rolled his eyes and shook his head, she had just fallen to the ground but she wouldn't even admit that she wasn't fine, but no matter how distant they had been from each other recently he would never just leave her. Even if she had called him 'David' then not spoke to him since. He walked over to one of the filing cabinets which Emma never even glanced at let alone went in, he kept some snacks and drinks in there things which he knew Emma liked, either for when the pair were working late or whenever Mary Margaret was trying to get Emma to eat healthier. He grabbed a couple of soda cans and a couple of candy bars.

He walked back over, he placed the drinks and snacks on the top of the desk, then crouched in front of her. "What happened? You don't normally faint when you use your magic. What the hell happened?"

"Why do you care?" She muttered bitterly.

David shook his head in frustration. "Because, I'm your _father_. It's 'dad' Emma, not 'David', _'dad'_. It's my job to care about you." He was still hurt from the last time they had spoken and she had called him David.

Emma looked down, she was frustrated herself but she could feel tears starting, but she couldn't run from the station in fact she was currently too weak to make it up from where she was sat. "When it suits you."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He shouted, when she stayed silent, he sighed. He hadn't really been dealing with all of this in the best way, neither of them had, but he was the parent in the relationship. He sighed again. "Emma," he tipped her chin up to force her to look at him, "please tell me what it is that I've done. I can't fix or explain anything until I know what's going on, plea-"

"You're leaving! You're just like the rest of them, you're going to leave and have your happily ever after, and you're going to leave _me_." All the pain and frustration, hurt and anger of the past few weeks finally made its way to the surface.

David just looked at her with complete confusion. "Emma what are you talking-"

"Why does Neal have a second hand stroller?"

It took David a second but then everything was clear. He tilted his head forward and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Em-"

"No. Just… I…" She had no idea what to say or what to feel.

"Emma," he cupped her face with his hands forcing her to stay looking at him willing her to see that he was telling her the truth, "I promise you that I will _never_ leave you. I would never _want_ to leave you, I never have wanted to, and I'm never going to let it happen again."

Emma bit her lip, she was terrified that he was lying to her, but at the same time he didn't look like he was. So instead she looked away from his eyes, though with David's hands still on her cheeks she could only look down at his lips.

"Since I found out that your mother was pregnant with Neal I've been absolutely terrified." He admitted. That got Emma looking at him, a small smile tugged at his mouth when he saw her look of worry and confusion, so he sent her a loving smile back. "I thought I'd mess it up, I always worry about my _kids_ , then when we got back and were getting everything for the baby I was worried that we were only here temporarily I didn't want Neal to get attached to things which could go so quickly, especially with the confusion over the memory loss." His thumb stroked her cheek. "But that was when he was first born, I hadn't even thought about it until your mom mentioned it the other week… which I'm guessing you overheard?"

Emma looked a little sheepish at that. She swallowed but continued to frown slightly in confusion. "But… but you were saying about what you, mom, and Neal were going to do." She stated like a question.

"I did because that's what your mom told me to focus on for that moment in time, she got me to think about how we would raise Neal in the Enchanted Forest, then how we would in Storybrooke. She could tell I was becoming worried again so she was helping me not freak out, then once I had calmed down some more we thought about what would happen if we had the whole family in the two places."

"How'd she know that would work?" Emma asked curiously though she was clearly trying to come to term with things. She figured it would probably work as a strategy to not freak out.

He smiled back at her, they weren't quite back to how they normally were and he still had to find out what had been going on while he and Mary Margaret hadn't seen her. "It's worked before. We used to go through it a lot, together, when your mother was pregnant with you." He pushed some hair back behind her ear. "I'm pretty sure we came up with an outcome for every situation possible, I'm pretty sure there was a time your mom thought you'd be born with gills or something." A grin broke on his face when he heard his daughter's small laugh. "I'm serious, there was a plan where you were raised as a mermaid, I was trying to find out the best mermaid preschools for you until eventually your mom realised she was being silly."

Emma smiled, she forgot that her parents would have had loads of plans for her, plus the technique her parents used seemed to make sense. She felt kind of ridiculous for not realising what was going on in the conversation she overheard, and for overhearing it in the first place, she internally reprimanded herself.

But David could understand why she had misunderstood, he didn't hold it against her for listening to his and Mary Margaret's conversation, they often caught her watching their conversations and looked like she enjoyed them there was always a fond look on her face. He was more concerned with how she was looking at that present moment in time. He brushed his thumbs over the purple bags under both of Emma's eyes.  
"I think I know why you fainted, now. You look exhausted already, no wonder your magic took even more out of you, how much sleep did you get last night?"

Emma squirmed a little, she hated being the centre of concerned attention, but she also hated being centre of attention.

David frowned. "Okay so no sleep last night? How about the night before? How about eating, you've been eating right" He was met with more silence. He heaved a sigh. "Emma Swan, you are banned from leaving the loft until you get several days worth of sleep and eat five feasts worth of food."

"Dad!"

"I'm serious. And you have to put up with your mother and I fussing over you. Starting now." He reached up and grabbed one of the cans and candy bars. "Eat this and drink this."

"Dad, seriously, I'm fine it was just a few days and I caught a couple of hours sleep in my car, I've been in worse-"

David raised a challenging eyebrow. "You wanna keep arguing me or do you want me to go and take you to the hospital where they can keep you in overnight and your mom can freak out more."

She snatched the candy bar from him, they were already falling back into their usual routine, and resuming their usual relationship. "You suck." She grumbled she tore open the bar and started to eat.

"Oh, I know." David mocked sympathy as he opened the soda for her. "Now drink your soda and eat your candy. Then I'll call Mary Margaret, we'll all go home, and your mom won't kill me for giving you candy and soda."

Emma rolled her eyes playfully but did as she was told. "She knows that I'm an adult, right?"

David smirked, she was their child, they knew that she was an adult but they would always see their baby girl. "Well, you have a child's appetite, and you act like a five year old when you lose computer games." He grinned at the fake clear she was sending him. "Act like an adult and we'll treat you like one."

Emma rolled her eyes again. "You've been waiting to use that one since before I was born, right?" She carried on eating her candy and drinking her soda, the sugar was helping her feel not so feeble and her dad had moved to sit at her side.  
"I'm tired dad." She mumbled as she led her head against him, immediately he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"I know you are kid." His hand rubbed her arm and she began to settle. He just looked down at her for a while, watching her with relief. Soon he could hear the gentle yet steady breathing which clearly indicated that she had fallen asleep. He carried on watching until finally he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

He looked down at his cell in his hand then at his daughter cuddled to his chest. He placed the phone onto the floor beside him. He could hold off calling his wife to let them out for a little while, he knew that Emma could do with sleeping in her bed instead of her car, but she was fine for the time being. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and smiled as she snuggled closer to him. They'd be okay, their family, no matter what life threw at them.


End file.
